1. Field of the Invention
Despite the extraordinary advances which have been made in the last five years in elucidating the immune process, the manner in which the immune process responds to a pathogen is still largely unexplained. There is still uncertainty as to why various pathogens may repeatedly and successfully be able to infect a host for extended periods of time before the infection is finally overcome, frequently requiring external help through the administration of antibiotics or other drugs.
Vaccines have been known for a long time and have found wide use in providing protection from an extended list of pathogen-caused disease. Nevertheless, despite this success, there still remain questions as to the best manner of administration, what elicits a response which will provide protection from infection, and whether individual or combinations of immunogens may be employed.
The protection from the disease appears to be related to eliciting a "strong" immune response, desirably without the significant affects associated with the disease. For vaccines to prove useful, it is usually necessary that one observe that a high antibody titer is obtained of antibodies associated with binding to the proteins of the pathogen. There is a continuing interest in the development of safe and effective vaccines, which will protect the host against a pathogenic invasion.
2. Brief Description of the Relevant Literature
Emini et al., Nature (1983) 104:699-703, reports employing a synthetic peptide as a primer for induction of anti-polio virus neutralizing antibodies resulting from the subsequent infection with the polio virus. Wimmer et al., Nature (1984) 308:19, describes the use of viral structural proteins as vaccines. See also, U.S. application Ser. Nos. 593,339 and 647,966, filed Mar. 26, 1984, and Sept. 6, 1984, respectively, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference.